1. Flavia Cavalcanti and Nastaran Hashemi Table 1: Medical Applications
Advances in Paper-Based Microfluidic Devices in the Energy and Medical Field
Flavia Cavalcanti and Nastaran Hashemi
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011
Table 1: Medical Applications
Introduction
Table 2 : Energy Field
Author/
Group
Fabrication
Method
Type of Assays
Objective
Advantages
Disadvantages
Andres W. Martinez, et al. Emanuel Carrilho
Photolithography
Diagnostic Assays
Develop low cost medical assays for developing countries.
Portable, cheap, fast and accurate results, comparable to bench top ELISAs.
Project suffered from the light scattering from the paper and from non-uniform wicking rate of the paper.
Whitesides Group
General health care and environmental assays.
New method of fabricaton by generating hydrophilic-hydrophobic contrast on the paper's surface.
Allows the precise insertion of biomolecules and indicator reagents, developing biochemical sensing zones.
N/A
Wang S, et al.
Wax printing
Chemiluminescence immunoassay, cancer diagnosis
3D microPAD immunodevice, with multiplexed CL detections, blood plasma separation from whole blood samples, and automated rinse steps.
Excellent analytical performane in the detection of tumor markers. Capable of performing multianalyte assays.
Whitesides group
modified x,y plotter used for printing a solution of hydrophobic polymer (PDMS)
General Diagnosis. The device showed accurate results in assays for the presence of glucose and proteins.
The development of cheaper methods to define hydrophilic channels in paper
Does not require the expensive reagents nor the cleanrooms needed in photoligthography. Showed good results in a wide variety of papers.
Still relies on computer aided design and reagents which are not widely available.
Author
Application
Advantages
Disadvantages
Liangbing Hu, et al.
Energy storage (highly conductive paper)
Use of paper significantly lowers the cost of the final product, while also improving adhesion, simplifying the coating process.
N/A
Victor L. Pushparaj, et al.
Flexible energy storage devices based on naocomposite paper
Sturdy final device, shown to be able to recover from being twisted and bent.
For good results, it may require the use of batteries.
Nicole K. Thom, et al.
“Fluidic Batteries”-energy generation for powering small devices
Capable of generating its own power when a smaple (used to conduct an assay and for powering its components. Device did not show a loss of performance after being left for week to the open air.
Šeila Selimović, et al.
Self powered microfluidic device
Does not require external equipement, efficient in powering small devices.
May require the use of external energy sources to power on-chip sensors or read-out elements.
The purpose of this research is to study the potential of paper-based microfluidic devices (micro-PADs) in the medical and energy field. Now-a-days the demand for an efficient, cheap, highly accessible, and eco-friendly device has increased exponentially. Usually the problems that come about with today's devices is its fabrication costs (highly expensive - limiting their accessibility to developing economies) and their detrimental side effects to the environment. As such, research related to paper
-based microfluidic devices is drawing
an increasing amount of attention as
paper is shown to be an exemplary
substrate for such devices. It is easily
accessible, inexpensive, and its wicking
capabilities, allows the movement of fluids
within the device without the use of external pumps,
Fabrication Methods
There are about seven general fabrication methods for the fabrication of paper-based microfluidic devices, these include: photolithography, plotting, inkjet printing, plasma eatching, flexographic printing, wax printing, and cutting patterns of channels from a sheet of paper.
Conclusion
Technologies related to disease diagnostics and energy storage would benefit greatly from further research in the area of paper-based microfluidic devices. Using paper as a substrate has several advantages as this material is very inexpensive, is easily stored, is highly accessible, and produces devices which are flexible and easily manufactured, while also delivering very accurate results. Such devices would be highly useful in developing economies and remote countries, as its simple fabrication methods and convenient portability, would increase their access to these remote locations.In the energy field, the use of galvanic cells are beginning to show a lot of potential, as their use would allow the fabrication of a self-powered micro-PAD. The microfluidic devices also demonstrated exceptional ability in recognizing tumor markers, further exemplifying its potential use in biological assays.
Energy Applications
As most of our energy is generated through the use of fossil fuels, a finite an non-environmental friendly energy source, research has begun to intensify in the area of the fabrication of an efficient and inexpensive device for energy generation/storage. Studies have shown that paper has the potential of being made highly conductive with a lowered resistance per square(as low as 1 ohm per square) through the conformal coating of a single-walled nanotube and silver nanowire films. This resulted in a highly conductive paper that can be a very scalable solution for high-performance energy storage devices. Paper is especially ideal for such a process as it readily binds with CNTs, making its fabrication much easier to perform than one using plastic or glass. Such an idea could also be implemented to fuel cell batteries, which can be composed of up to twenty Four Batteries. In this figure,An expanded view of the Two-battery cell is depicted.
Size ~16mm wide x 7.8 mm
Long. The components are:Salt bridges
(4th layer) and the Electrolytes (6th ).
Al and Ag( 7th layer),Covered by
copper tabe, acting like and electrode
and connection between the two cells.
Tree- Shaped paper strip with self-calibration
3D Origami-based multifunction-integrated immunodevice
Magnetic timing valves for fluid control
Medical Applications
Paper-based microfluidic devices have a
large potential in the area of medical
diagnostics, as it is capable of providing
an accurate and cheap diagnostic for
developing countries.Their fabrication
process is simple, not requiring extensive
training nor complex equipment. The Whitesides group introduced POCKET, a portable microfluidic-based system, which has the ability to run quantitive immunoassays with the same sensitivity as benchtop ELISAs, but several times faster, and at a fraction of the price. Other research groups have shown that the micro-PADs have potential in the area of HIV rapid tests, cancer and tumor diagnosis, detection of DNA (study of hereditary diseases), among others...
Acknowledgements
We thank the aid given to us by the Iowa State University Honors Program for a $180 grant and the support and advices received from our honors mentor, Nastaran Hasemi.
References
1) Highly conductive paper for energy-storage devices. Procedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Vol. 106 no. 51.Liangbing Hu,
2) Andres W. Martinez. "Microfluidic paper-based analytical devices: from POCKET to paper-based ELISA" Bioanalysis 3.23 (2011):
3) ““Fluidic batteries” and self-powered paper microfluidic chips”. Lab on a Chip. Issue 14, 2012.
Šeila Selimović, et al.